kodiak

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Worth four minutes of your life

Another Vietnam? Or just the government failing to realize we are screwed?

It seems that with the death of a sports hero the country is finally able to put a face and a name with the conflict in Afghanistan. My father’s generation fought in Vietnam, and I always wondered why he did not serve during the war. I wonder if my children will ask the same question of me? “Daddy why didn’t you serve in Afghanistan?”. I think the war has sort of crept up on the country. It was not until a few weeks ago that I realized the US has been in Afghanistan for quite some time, and we are not going to leave anytime soon. For some reason I was under the impression that our presence in Afghanistan was temporary, supported by the UN and primarily political- not military. This is obviously not the case.

And then there is the conflict in Iraq to consider. The activities and casualties in Afghanistan pale in comparision to Iraq. Bush v1.0 was there when I was in grade school and now that I have graduated from college and am working for a living Bush v2.0 has come back to finish his father’s dirty work. It seems that everyday we hear reports of more American soldiers killed in action, while our “allies” pull their support and send their troops home.

The US was pulled into Vietnam by our a alliance with the French, and even after the French realized the hopelessness of the situation we stayed. The 25,000 day war, is any one keeping a count on the days in Iraq? I don’t fear the draft, and am actually in favor of universal conscription, similar to the programs that can be found in Germany and Israel, but I still have the right to question the motive, goals and expected outcome of any government military action. Bush v2.0 seems to be willing to send our boys to die in a conflict that he does not fully understand, and after two generations of involvement in the region, I wonder if the Bush family will ever realize that Iraq has been lost.

We seem to have fallen in the same ego trap as Vietnam. We had a clear purpose in 1956, just as we had one in 2001, but by 1961 that had faded away and all we heard was about another boy killed at a checkpoint in some village. Just as now, our purpose in Iraq has been obscured by other events and the ideas of Weapon of Mass Destruction, Al Queda and Osama Bin Laden has totally faded away, but we still hear about a boy killed at a checkpoint.

Welcome to the Jungle, yet again. Let’s just hope Jeb doesn’t hold any dreams of a term in the White House.